


Judgement Day

by Engineerd



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Feelings Realization, M/M, Oblivious Son Goku (Dragon Ball), Soul Bond, kakavegeweek2021, prompt: afterlife, tumblr: kakavegeweek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 11:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30071607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Engineerd/pseuds/Engineerd
Summary: When Vegeta dies, he's bound to go to hell.Or rather, he would have been, if Goku hadn't lied to King Yemma and said that they were soul bonded.
Relationships: Son Goku/Vegeta (Dragon Ball)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 61
Collections: Kakavege week #10





	Judgement Day

**Author's Note:**

> Life is in my hands, so no need to pray
> 
> ‘cause I’m ready now for the Judgement Day
> 
> \- (Blizzard, Miura Daichi, as featured in Dragon Ball Super: Broly) 

“Oh, Goku,” Whis said, eyes flicking up and down Goku’s body. “It’s certainly been a long time, hasn’t it?” 

Goku couldn’t blame him for staring. He definitely looked a lot different from back when he’d spent most of his time on Beerus’s planet. His hair was gray, his back was bowed, and his old orange gi had been reluctantly retired a while ago. “Hey, Whis,” Goku said. “I was just talking to Beerus.” 

Whis cocked his head. “Anything interesting?” 

Goku shrugged. “Not according to him. I didn’t bring any food or anything, but...maybe you could help me? I’m looking for advice.” 

“I certainly have the time to hear out the universe’s most noteworthy mortal,” Whis said. “You’ve fed us often enough over the years.” 

“Thanks!” Goku said. “So, you’re kinda omniscient, right? I was wondering if you could check up on where Vegeta’s soul is supposed to be headed once we, you know, die for real. Vegeta swears it’s hell, but I don’t believe him.” 

“Hmm,” Whis said. “I can’t say for sure, as I’m not affiliated with the Otherworld, but if I were a betting angel I’d have to side with Vegeta on this one.” 

Goku huffed in frustration. “Not you too. Vegeta’s a good person, and he -” 

“I’m sorry, Goku, I didn’t mean to offend,” Whis interrupted. “As I said, I can’t say for sure. I only have a rudimentary knowledge on how the judgement of mortal souls works. You may have more luck with the Otherworld manager of that department - Yemma, I believe his name is?”

Goku smacked himself on the forehead. “King Yemma! Of course.  I've been getting in and out of Otherworld by myself for so long that I forgot about the usual way in! I should go see him right now.” 

Whis smiled. “I hope I was of help, Goku.” 

“When I spoke to Beerus, he said he’d just destroy Vegeta’s soul to save me the trouble,” Goku complained. “So yeah, you were a big help, thank you!” He took a step forward, and then paused. “Actually, Whis...can I ask one more question?” 

“You may ask,” Whis said. 

“If Vegeta  _ is  _ going to hell…” Goku trailed off, bit his lip for a moment. “...what should I do about that? To change it, I mean. He’s already a good person and he’s saved the universe just as many times as I have, so…” 

“Oh, I wouldn’t begin to know about that,” Whis said. “I’ll keep my ears open for you, though. Maybe the Oracle Fish will have something one day.” 

Goku shook his head. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’m sure they wouldn’t send Vegeta to hell. He’s the best warrior I’ve ever met, and it would be a waste to throw away his soul like that.” 

* * *

The entrance to Otherworld hadn’t changed much. The clouds were still golden and endless. The ogres were still working diligently to keep the lone line of souls in order. And there still was a huge mahogany desk holding a billion papers, separating Goku from the answer to his quest. 

“Prince Vegeta, of Planet Vegeta?" Goku asked, reiterating his request again for hopefully the last time. "He thinks he's going to hell." 

"Is that a question?" King Yemma asked. He started flipping through papers, finally holding one up and squinting at it. "Vegeta of Earth is bound for hell, yes." 

Goku's heart sank. "No way, he can't be!" he exclaimed. "Vegeta's one of the toughest warriors this universe has ever produced! This place would have been destroyed a long time ago if it wasn't for him! He's supposed to go to fighter's heaven, with me!" 

"I am not a judge," King Yemma said. "The sum total of Vegeta of Earth’s life has already been calculated. His soul is the only one affected by his choices. After a time in hell, his soul will reincarnate for another chance to-"

"That's not true!" Goku interrupted. "I'm affected!” 

King Yemma stopped. Blinked. Looked down at the paper that apparently listed Vegeta's fate. “You… are?” 

"Yes! And I want him to go to fighter's heaven, with me," Goku said. "That's where I always went when I died, and I like it there. Also, I'm pretty sure I'd be the strongest person there by a long shot, and I've always outpaced everyone else I've ever met, except Vegeta, so I'd need him there to match me. Right?" 

"Doesn't say anything here about a soul bond here," Yemma said. He looked back up. "Are you here to report one?" 

"Yeah," Goku said confidently. He didn't exactly know what a soul bond was, but if it meant that Vegeta wouldn’t be sent to hell and would be allowed into fighter’s heaven with him then it didn't matter. "So he can come with me, right?" 

"It's more likely you'll follow him," King Yemma said, writing something down on Vegeta's paper. "It was brave of you to try, but based on his life total here I sincerely doubt - huh." 

"What?" 

King Yemma squinted at Vegeta's paper. He then flipped through the other papers on his desk for several seconds, before finally pulling out a second one and examining that. "Oh. You're completely pure of heart," he said. "That's enough to tip the calculations in your favor." 

Goku smiled. Beamed, really. "Awesome! Thanks, King Yemma!" 

And then he instant-transmissioned away. It’d been a long few days of bouncing from person to person searching for answers, and a long several years of the issuing nagging at him in the back of his mind before that, but now? Vegeta would be fine. He didn’t need to worry about it anymore. 

So Goku mostly forgot about the whole thing, until it was time both saiyans died for real. 

* * *

Goku had been sleeping, in his own bed, and when he next woke up he was in the line of the dead. Vegeta was just in front of Goku as he blinked awake. Both their bodies were young again, not a single gray hair on either of their heads. 

Vegeta blinked back at him. There were bodyless souls in the line in front of them. More appeared behind Goku as he looked around. "You?" Vegeta said, voice hoarse. He cleared his throat and tried again. "What are you doing here, Kakarot?" 

Goku glanced up at his halo. "Well, I think I'm dead," he said mildly. 

"Yeah, no shit." Vegeta crossed his arms and glared. "If we hadn't already died in battle before, I'd call us both a disgrace. What are the chances we die at the exact same time in our sleep?"

"Crazy," Goku agreed, bringing two fingers to his forehead. "Well, no point in standing in line-" 

Vegeta took a step back to avoid Goku's hand. "Kakarot, wait!" 

Goku paused. He saw the apprehensive expression on Vegeta's face and lowered his instant transmission fingers. "What?" 

Vegeta swallowed. "I just - I - I wasn't planning on doing this, but since we're both here - this is goodbye, Kakarot." 

Goku tensed. "What?" 

"I'm going to hell, and you're not," Vegeta said. He gulped, and something entered his eyes that Goku wasn't used to having directed at him. "So-"

"You're not going to hell," Goku interrupted. 

Vegeta's brows furrowed. "Yes, I am." 

"Nah, you're not." 

"Kakarot," Vegeta snapped, and good, he was angry again. Goku knew how to deal with angry Vegeta. "Yes. I am." 

"Bet you you're not," Goku said, and snagged Vegeta's bicep and instant transmissioned them to the front of the line with a  _ pop _ . 

"Kakarot!" Vegeta shouted, wrenching his arm out of Goku's grasp. "Oh, screw you, you idiot, I am not going to miss you even the slightest bit-"

"Hi King Yemma!" Goku shouted, as loud as he could to drown out Vegeta. Vegeta stopped instantly, going dangerously still. 

King Yemma dismissed the shade that was in front of him, looked at the two of them, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know where to go." 

"Great!" He reached for Vegeta again. "Bye-" 

"Wait," Vegeta said, stepping away again. "There's two of us." 

King Yemma looked back up. "Vegeta?" 

"Yes?" 

"You're with him," he said, jerking his head in Goku's direction. 

Goku smiled widely. Vegeta looked gobsmacked, too shocked to argue, and Goku grabbed his arm before he could recover. "Told you so," he couldn't resist saying, and teleported them straight to fighter's heaven. 

He'd picked his favorite courtyard, the one that was just outside his rooms; belatedly, he realized that Vegeta had never been here before. "Whoops. Probably should have taken us straight to the front, so you can get the grand tour and everything. My bad." 

Vegeta took a step forward, looking around in wonder at the pink sky, the Earth-green grass. He asked quietly, "What is this place?" 

Goku felt his smile widen. "It's heaven, Vegeta." 

"Warrior's Heaven?"

"Yeah." 

Vegeta kept looking around, examining all their surroundings. He was blinking rapidly. 

“I used to live right here,” Goku said, jerking his head towards the nearby house. “Hopefully I can again, I really liked it. You can get your own set-up in whatever climate you want. I’m sure they have a-”

"Leave me," Vegeta interrupted quietly. His voice was thick.

"What?" 

"Are you deaf, idiot?!" Vegeta snapped, still not looking at him. "I said LEAVE!"

Goku took a step back. "Fine, fine, we can check in later." He wasn't acknowledged as he flew away, but whatever; Vegeta was here and not going to hell, so nothing terrible could really happen to him. 

Goku stopped a few hundred feet in the air, surveying the terrain around him. Fighter's heaven was small compared to normal heaven - thousands of souls, not billions of trillions - but still covered a sizable area. There was the ocean home of the aquatic species to the south, the marshlands to the southwest, the plains connecting them turning into the rolling hills where Goku lived, and before finally giving way to mountains. There were arenas all over, but Goku didn’t feel like meeting strangers right now, so he cast his senses out for any familiar ki signatures - 

_ Aha.  _ Tien Shinhan was close by. Goku grinned and instant transmissioned over to his ki signature with an easy  _ pop.  _ “Tien!” 

Tien turned around. He was young again too, bulging with muscle. “Goku!” 

“It’s so good to see you! It’s been so long!” 

Tien chuckled. “It has? Does this mean you’re here for good, this time?” 

“Yup,” Goku said. “Natural causes, peacefully in my sleep, the whole thing.”

“Good for you,” Tien said. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen anyone else from the old Earth gang. Maybe we should get together for a tournament again.” 

“Oh, that’d be so much fun! I haven’t seen anyone else, Vegeta and I just got here.” 

Tien’s smile slowly shrank. “Sorry,” he said. “Did you say you and...Vegeta?” 

“Yeah,” Goku said. “We died around the same time. He’s never been here before, so he’s still settling in. We haven’t even seen Grand Kai yet.” 

“Vegeta,” Tien repeated. “Really? I could have sworn - well, never mind, I guess.” 

“What?” Goku asked. 

Tien shrugged. “I didn’t think the fates were that forgiving, that’s all. Vegeta always made it sound like he personally murdered an entire Earth-like planet every other week under Frieza.” 

Goku hesitated. He wasn’t really sure what to say. 

“Maybe he was exaggerating,” Tien mused. “You know him better than I do. Doesn’t really matter since he’s here, does it? One more for the tournament.”

“Right,” Goku said, eager to change subjects. “Oh, that would be so much fun. I can’t wait to see how much you’ve all improved!” 

“And you can give us some Earth updates while you’re at it.” 

“Yeah,” Goku said. “You up for a quick spar now? I need to get used to being dead again.” 

“Sure,” Tien agreed. 

* * *

Goku returned to his home courtyard around an hour later, rejuvenated and content. His body didn’t ache or creak at all, wasn’t sweaty or stiff, and the weather was still perfect. “I’m back!” he announced to empty air, looking around. “We should probably check in now - Vegeta?”

He didn’t get a direct answer, but there was a miniscule fluctuation in Vegeta’s ki signature that drew Goku’s attention to a nearby garden. Goku ambled over, finding Vegeta on a bench, staring at a small fountain. “Hey. How do you like the garden? Pretty, right?” 

Vegeta glanced up. Whatever he’d been doing for the last hour, it was impossible to tell. “You said you used to live here?” 

“Sure did.” 

Vegeta’s eyes flashed back to the ground. “It’s better kept than I would have expected, then.” 

Goku snorted, sliding carefully down onto the bench at Vegeta’s side. “Can’t take much credit for that. It’s heaven, it sort of turns out however you want. I’m sure you can get yourself a Saiyan palace in the middle of the city or whatever.”

“Tch” Vegeta scoffed. “I don’t need an ostentatious target surrounded by weaklings.” 

“Maybe something near me, then?” 

“Don’t push your luck,” Vegeta said, standing up and stretching. “You’ve got some fresh air out here, Kakarot, but I’m sure I could come up with something better.” 

“Oh, yeah?” Goku said lazily. His eyes traced the outline of Vegeta’s muscles, from his back to his triceps to his forearms overhead. 

“Of course.” Vegeta lowered his arms again and turned to Goku. “Well, let’s get this stupid check-in thing you keep blathering on about over with.” 

Vegeta held out his hand, presumably for instant transmission, but Goku grabbed it and hoisted himself up to his feet again. “Gladly,” he said, right in Vegeta’s face, and squeezed Vegeta’s palm with one hand as he touched his forehead with the other. 

* * *

Goku actually didn’t really remember what Grand Kai’s ki-signature felt like, and nothing especially stood out, so he took them both to King Kai’s planet instead. "Yo! King Kai! We're here!" 

King Kai waddled out of his house. "Oh, good, the bonded couple," he said, sounding sarcastic. "Do you know what it's like, being the last Kai to know? South Kai knew before me.  _ South Kai."  _

"What?" Vegeta said, bristling. 

"King Kai, we just died today," Goku said. "We haven’t had the chance to do anything yet. I was just hoping you'd be able to show Vegeta around, get him a house and stuff, like you did with me while I was dead." 

"A house?" King Kai said. "What for? You two are bonded. You'll be sharing one, of course." 

"What are you on about, old man?" Vegeta snapped. "I am not sharing a house with this buffoon for the rest of eternity. And what the hell do you mean,  _ bonded _ ?" 

King Kai's eyes snapped to Goku. After a second, Vegeta's followed suit. "Goku," King Kai said. "Why doesn't Vegeta know?" 

Goku rubbed the back of his neck. "Bonded," he repeated. "Now that you mention it, that  _ sounds  _ familiar, but I don't really know what you're talking about either."

"Goku," King Kai said again. " _ You're  _ the one who told King Yemma yours and Vegeta's souls were bound together!” 

Goku snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! I did do that!" 

"You WHAT?" Vegeta roared. 

King Kai looked back and forth between the two of them. "What did you do?" 

"Oh, geez," Goku said, pointedly avoiding Vegeta's death-glare. "I don’t know, it was so long ago. I was talking to King Yemma and he assumed the bonded thing, and I didn’t really know what it was but it got Vegeta out of hell-” He stopped dead. Crap. He hadn’t meant to say that. “I mean, it got Vegeta and I to stick together, because I wanted a sparring partner that could keep up with me. I didn’t know we’d have to live together.” 

“You lied,” King Kair stated. “You lied to the keeper of the judgement papers. Do you know what this means?” 

On his other side, Vegeta hadn’t moved. He was stiff, still - dangerously still. “It means I am supposed to be in hell,” Vegeta said quietly. “The only reason I’m not is because of you, Kakarot?” 

He’d pitched his voice as a question, but Goku knew better than to answer directly. “What, do you want to be in hell?” Goku asked. “Alone down there, with no one to fight? That’d be terrible.” 

“It’s not about want,” Vegeta answered, voice still barely above a whisper. “It’s about what I deserve. You’ll just have to find some other source of entertainment.” 

“Vegeta-”

“We’re not soul-bonded,” Vegeta interrupted, turning to King Kai. “Not really. Take me back to Yemma and I’ll explain the mistake.” 

King Kai hissed through his teeth. “Well, even if you weren’t soul-bonded before, you are now,” he said. “King Yemma wrote it on your judgement papers.” 

“If he wrote it down, he can erase it,” Vegeta said. “Or strike it off. Whatever.”

“Vegeta, you’re not going to hell-” Goku tried again. 

“ _ Fuck you _ , Kakarot. I’m going and you’re staying. End of story.” 

“No!”

“I hate to agree with Goku,” King Kai cut in, glancing between the both of them. “But if you’re going to hell, Vegeta, Goku is too.” 

Vegeta’s upper lip curled. “Why? The stupid bond? We’ll dissolve it.” 

“Then Goku will be sent to hell too for lying on his judgement papers.” 

“What?!” Goku yelped. “I didn’t  _ mean  _ to lie. I was just trying to help!”

Vegeta’s snarl hardened. “Fuck,” he said, and then turned his back and stomped away from them. “FUCK!” he shouted into the air. “I can’t even die in peace, you goddamn buffoon!” 

Something in Goku recoiled, but he did his best not to let it show on his face. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to get us - bonded, or whatever. It just...at least...nevermind.”  _ At least we’re together,  _ he wanted to say, but couldn’t. That was Vegeta’s whole problem. “I’m better than hell, aren’t I?” 

“Maybe this is my personal hell,” Vegeta spat. “Stuck with you. Forever. It’s the perfect torture.” 

“This isn’t,” King Kai said. “Stop being dramatic unless you really do want to get the both of you damned, Vegeta. If you carry on like this, Yemma will find out whether you tell him or not.” 

“What, is he stalking us?” 

“People gossip,” King Kai said. “And you two are the strongest mortals the 7th universe has produced in millenia. You’re practically celebrities.” 

“Great,” Vegeta snarled, turning around and glaring at Goku. “Just great. Constant scrutiny by worthless peasants. Perfect.” 

Goku frowned back. Stupid Vegeta - if he hated Goku so badly, he literally had the chance to get rid of him. There was no way Goku’s hell would have his friend in it. “Well, I guess we don’t have to worry about where you’ll live anymore. We might as well head back.” 

“What, you aren’t going to drag me there, too?” 

Goku grit his teeth. “I said I was sorry.” 

Vegeta stomped back towards him. “This is just like you, Kakarot. Always doing whatever you want, no thought towards the consequences.”

“Fine,” Goku said. “Guess I will drag you. Bye, King Kai.” 

He’d barely touched a fingertip to Vegeta’s shoulder before he instant transmissioned back to Fighter’s Heaven. Vegeta wrenched himself away and flew off into the distance fast enough to create a sonic boom. 

Goku sighed and didn’t bother to track him. Whatever. If he went to hell, at least he’d go knowing he’d done everything he could to save Vegeta. Even if Vegeta didn’t want him to, even if Vegeta ran away - Goku wasn't truly alone, not really. Vegeta was out there somewhere, and that was enough. 

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to dedicate this work to my dear friend Stardust_Steel, without whom this fic would not exist in its current form. 
> 
> To everyone else, thank you very much for reading. I'd love to hear your thoughts. and happy kakavege week!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Fading Eclipse](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29995131) by [Stardust_Steel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardust_Steel/pseuds/Stardust_Steel)




End file.
